May 31, 2012

EDITOR: Facebook operates political censorship:
In the Hebrew piece below, you can read about political censorship of the worst kind by Facebook! It seems that being anti capitalist or anti Zionist is not on on Facebook! So much for American democracy!

Facebook censors cartoons against racism, capitalism: 972Mag

Wednesday, May 30 2012|Noam Sheizaf
The comic artist Mysh is one of my favorites in Israel. His work is not only conscious and critical, but also brilliantly drawn and at times, extremely funny. Last year I posted here his “Israeli Machine” video, which captured the hope I saw in the J14 movement more than any 1000-word essay I have written on this issue.
Mysh’s drawings have since turned more critical and dark, reflecting the change in the national mood as the summer of hope turned into an Israeli winter. Yet some of those recent works have been incredibly popular on Facebook, shared and liked by thousands of Israelis; other pieces even got some international attention. That’s when Facebook began to censor Mysh.
“A couple of days ago, I got a message that one of my works, titled The Real Superhero, was removed from the site,” Mysh told +972 over the phone today. “I actually suspected it was the nudity – the drawing is showing a naked Clark Kent, with the S carved on his chest – maybe it was too much for some people. But this morning, I couldn’t get into my Facebook account, and I saw that another one of my sketches, titled A Problem of Self Esteem, was also removed.”
Here is The Real Superhero:

The Real Superhero (by Mysh)

And this is the Problem of Self Esteem, a work inspired by the latest race riot in Tel Aviv.

A Problem of Self Esteem (by Mysh)

The Hebrew on the back of the muscular man has all kinds of popular racist slogans: “A good Arab is a dead Arab;” “Death to the Sudanese,” “Run over the Dosim (degrading name for Orthodox Jews);”Russians to Russia, Ethiopians to Ethiopia,” and more.
Mysh was also warned by Facebook that further flagging of his work would lead to the removal of his page. He was banned from the site for 24 hours.
“When they removed a third work, titled the Green Sabrah, I understood that there was something systematic here, and that I have to take care of it. I wrote a letter to Facebook, but the reply was that the department that dealing with my problem is on leave until June 6th.”

"The Green Sabrah: In control. But not in control of himself" (by Mysh)

“My work is critical and provocative, but I don’t think I am violating any of the house rules. My images are not inciting to violence, pornographic or extremely graphic. I really don’t know what to do now. The irony is that I have been praising Facebook recently as this amazing tool for promoting your art. I don’t have a site and I dread the thought that I will have to be a multi-platform person. I am quite bad with technology. I guess this was a kind of a wake up call for me, that this place I trusted is censored too.”
Mysh is 34, lives in Tel Aviv; he also directs films and animation. If you want to support him, join his Facebook page. We will also be featuring his work here on +972 from time to time. And for those who missed it, here is The Israeli Machine:

And below, the Hebrew version:

פייסבוק מצנזרת קריקטורה פוליטית

המאייר הישראלי מיש הופתע הבוקר לגלות שפייסבוק הסירה שתי קריקטורות שהעלה בתגובה למצב הפוליטי ומצב המסתתנים בארץ. האם פייסבוק זה המקום של תכנים שפונים רק למכנה המשותף הרחב ביותר?
ויטה קיירס
עדכון אחרון:     30.05.12, 15:11

המאייר ויוצר סדרת הרשת “מפלצוני הכנסת” העלה בשבועות האחרונים קריקטורות ביקורתיות, יש שיאמרו בוטות, לעמוד הפייסבוק שלו. הקריקטורות, שהתייחסו למצב הפוליטי בארץ, צברו למעלה ממאה אלף כניסות תוך ימים בודדים, והציתו ויכוחים ערים. פייסבוק, שמצהירה על עצמה רשת שמטרתה לחבר בין אנשים – ולא לפלג ביניהם, לא הבינה כנראה את המסרים של מיש, ובחרה להסיר את התמונות מהאתר.

הבוקר,כשמיש נכנס לאתר, קיבלה את פניו הודעה לקונית לפיה התוכן שמיש העלה מפר את כללי הקהילה של פייסבוק, ושאם הדבר ימשיך, חשבונו ייחסם. ראוי לציין שכמות המידע המועלה על ידי גולשים בפייסבוק הוא אינסופי: לרשת החברתית אין באמת יכולת לנטר את כולו ולקבוע מה מותר ומה אסור, וכדי להתריע לפייסבוק על תוכן לא ראוי, אלים או גזעני, יש לדווח על התוכן הזה באופן פרטני.

“האיור הראשון שהוסר היה חלק מפרוייקט בשם ‘The real superpower’, בו עשיתי מעין טוויסט אנטי-קפיטליסטי על גיבורי קומיקס קלאסיים”, מספר מיש ל-ynet מחשבים. “המסר היה, למה להיות גיבור, כשאתה יכול להרשות לעצמך להיות נבל. האיור שהורד הציג עיתונאי דל אמצעים (קלארק קנט) שעובר התעללות בידי איל הנדלן לקס לותור. הורדת האיור הזה היא עוד איכשהו הגיונית לפי “חוקי הקהילה” של פייסבוק, כי קלארק קנט מופיע באיור כפות ועירום”

(איור: מיש)

לאחר יומיים, קרי היום (ד’), פייסבוק הסירו שתי קריקטורות נוספות. הראשונה,”בעיות דימוי עצמי”, פורסמה בסוף השבוע האחרון בתגובה לאלימות שהופגנה נגד פליטים ומסתננים בדרום תל אביב והדיון הסוער שהתפתח לאחר מכן. “בקריקטורה צפו בכמה ימים יותר ממאה אלף גולשים” אומר מיש, ”והיא זכתה ללמעלה מ-1,500 שיתופים. היא הציתה דיונים ארוכים בהם אנשים בעלי השקפות ודעות פוליטיות שונות התעמתו ברחבי הפייסבוק והגיעו למסקנות מעניינות מאד”.

(איור: מיש)

לאחר דקות סופרות, הוסרה קריקטורה נוספת בשם “הצבר הירוק” שמיש העלה לפני כחודש. האיור מציג פארודיה על גיבור העל “הענק הירוק” – דמות של אדם שאינו שולט על כעסו, ובכל פעם שהוא מתעצבן קצת – הופך ליצור ירוק ומפלצתי. “השתמשתי בדמות כאלגוריה לתכונה הישראלית של שימוש בכוח בלתי פרופורציוני כאמצעי הראשון והאחרון לפתרון כל בעיה”.

לפני כשבוע, מיש התארח בתוכנית הטלוויזיה “הינשופים”, בה דיבר, בין היתר, על האפשרות ליצור שיח לא מצונזר באינטרנט, כזה שמאפשר לאנשים שרוב הסיכויים שלא יפגשו בחיים האמיתיים, להתווכח בצורה בריאה. “היום נוכחתי, שגם בעולם הווירטואלי הדבר אינו פשוט כל כך, ויש אנשים שינסו בכל דרך למנוע תקשורת כזאת, כדי להשאיר איש איש בדעותיו”.

(איור: מיש)

האם תמשיך להעלות תכנים? או שאתה חושב על דרך אלטרנטיבית להביע את המחאה שלך?
“אני אמשיך להעלות תכנים,אבל עכשיו אני מבין שהדברים שלי חשופים יותר. אני מרגיש שאני צריך ללמוד יותר לעומק את ההתנהלות של פייסבוק כדי לדעת איך להגן על עצמי. אני לא נהנה מסיכונים ומעדיף לא לקחת אותם, אבל במקרה כזה נראה לי די מגוחך להתקפל בלי לראות מה ניתן לעשות בנדון”.

תגובת פייסבוק לדברים טרם נמסרה.

May 29, 2012

EDITOR: Last night successful action against Habimah

Below you can read some competing versions of the reporting on the event: Tony Greenstein version is based on what took place inside, while the Haaretz and Ynet report what they wanted to see.

Tony Greenstein’s blog

As Bob Dylan noted, there’s no success like failure, but failure’s no success at all.  So it was with Habimah’s distinctively unimpressive Merchant of Venice.  Indeed it is ironic that the ‘Jewish’ State’s only contribution to the Globe’s Shakespeare Festival was to stage a recreation of Shylock and Shakespeare’s depiction of Venetian anti-Semitism.

After a group of us had met at a secret location in Central London we made our way to the Globe.  We had no illusions that the security in place would make our job difficult but in a sense it didn’t matter.  The very fact that Zionist Theatre can only perform under unprecedented lock-down conditions guaranteed that we had already won.

There was an especially large police presence to ensure that the theatre production could go ahead.

I was convinced that I personally wouldn’t get in, being one of the better known anti-Zionists on the scene.  However the triumph of innocence won out as I strolled passed the intense security and a blind Jonathan Hoffman to take my position in the ‘pit’.

No sooner had the performance begun than the interruptions began.  A group of women in the balcony unfolded a banner and were the object of the attentions of some quite vicious stewarding but to no avail.  One of the women, who shall remain nameless, persisted in her protest throughout the first half, having a large plaster across her mouth to symbolise the silenced voice of the Palestinians.

I was caught by Zionist spotters in the interlude before I could add a harmonious touch but my place was easily filled by others who congregated in the pit.  It was somewhat amusing as Jonathan Hoffman’s even uglier twin, Harvey Garfield and a screaming Martin Sugarman and another Zionist decided to try to detain me.  Unfortunately the overweight Harvey appeared to stumble under his own weight and like all Zionist aggressors started squealing about having been assaulted.  However I had no problem persuading the police that I was lawfully entitled to resist an unprovoked physical attack which was common assault.  The Zionists thought better of trying to have me arrested and I was released without charge.

Given the assaults by the security goons on other protestors, the fact that one protestor has been detained on suspicion of attacking a goon is ludicrous.

When I emerged into the sunshine there was still a healthy Palestinian demonstration and no sign of the Zionists.   Meanwhile the Piza Express opposite functioned as our media centre.  Truth and justice had won out as we made it clear that Brand Israel and the Culture of Genocide will no longer be allowed a free pass.

Israel’s National Theater Company performs in London’s Globe Theater: Haaretz

Pro-Palestinian activists disrupt performance with cries of ‘Free Palestine.’
By Anshel Pfeffer

As the Globe Theater in London increased security ahead of Habima Theater’s performance, actors have vowed to hold hands on stage in the event that pro-Palestinian protestors disrupt the play. Israel' Photo by AFP

The performance of Habima’s new Hebrew production of The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theater in London, goes as planned though repeatedly interrupted by protesters shouting “Free Palestine.” One protester was arrested.

The two Habima performances have been sold out and the organizers believe that some of the tickets were bought by protestors who are planning to heckle and disturb the performers. At the rehearsal this morning at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater on the south bank of the Thames, Habima’s actors decided that if the heckling would get too loud to continue with the play, all the actors, including those behind the scenes, would join hands on the stage and wait for the hecklers to be ejected. Lead actor, Yakov Cohen, playing the role of Shylock said that if Israelis in the audience will try and shout back at the hecklers, he will ask them in Hebrew “not to descend to that level.”

Habima’s artistic director, Ilan Ronnen, who is directing the play, said at the rehearsal that “this is not the first time that there are demonstrations when we are performing abroad. Usually, they are outside the theater. In this case, it is a special situation since the Globe has 700 standing places close up to the actors. As far as I know, most of the people who bought tickets are coming to see a play and express their love for theater, that’s all. We will make every effort that the play will go on.”

The pro-Palestinian activists have targeted Habima for its performances in the new concert hall at the West Bank settlement of Ariel. While the Globe has not cancelled its plans to host Habima, it issued last week an unprecedented list of regulations regarding security and maintenance of order during the two performances, following discussions with London’s Metropolitan Police.

Among other procedures, entrance to the theater will be only allowed through one gate and ticket holders are requested to arrive early since they will have to undergo “extensive checks of bags” and possibly “random body searches.” The Globe management stressed that it “reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone we have reason to believe may cause a disruption to the performance.”

In addition, the theater announced that “the use of any annoying, disruptive or dangerous behavior, foul or abusive language or obscene gestures, the removal of shirts or clothing likely to cause offence and climbing onto any building/wall or other structure is forbidden and may result in ejection.”

Man held at Globe theatre protest: Guardian

One man arrested on suspicion of assault after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a performance by Israeli theatre company

Company was performing The Merchant of Venice when a small number of demonstrators unfurled banners and displayed a Palestinian flag. Photograph: Alamy

A man was arrested after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a performance by the Israeli national theatre company at London’s Globe theatre.

Tel Aviv’s Habima company was performing Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice during the Globe to Globe festival when a small number of demonstrators unfurled banners and displayed a Palestinian flag.

One man was arrested on suspicion of assault on a security guard and remains in police custody, Scotland Yard said.

A spokeswoman from the protest group Boycott Israel Network said 15 demonstrators stood up during the performance with Palestinian flags and a banner. Two more protesters were removed shortly after the interval, she added.

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, co-ordinator with the Boycott Israel Network, said: “This campaign is not an attack on individual artists; we are not censoring the content of their work nor are we concerned about their ethnicity or the language they speak.

“As with South African sport in the apartheid era, this is about refusing to allow culture to be used to whitewash oppression.”

Protester Zoe Mars said: “We tried non-violently to convey the message that culture may not be used to give a civilised gloss to a state that perpetrates human rights abuses.”

The Globe to Globe festival features all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays being performed in 37 languages, from Urdu to Swahili, over six weeks.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said: “I can confirm that officers arrested a man at 9.15pm on suspicion of assault on a security guard outside the Globe Theatre. He remains in custody.”

Palestinians disrupt Habima performance in London: Ynet

Pro-Palestinians demonstrating against national company’s performances in the West Bank, disrupt showing of The Merchant of Venice at London’s Globe Theater
Rona Zinman
The show must go on: Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupted the performance of the Habima National Theater Company’s The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theater in London on Monday, but the actors proved they were true professionals – carrying on with the show.

During the performance, a new Hebrew production of the Merchant of Venice which is part of the “Globe to Globe” festival, some 10 Palestinian demonstrators in the audience suddenly began waving Palestinian flags and signs against Israel.

Security personnel removed them from the theater. Later on, another group stood up with band-aids plastered to their mouths.
The protests began outside the theater with dozens standing with Palestinian flags and signs calling for an end to the “Israeli Apartheid regime” as well as for a boycott on Israeli products.
The Pro-Palestinians were demonstrating against the Habima performance over the fact that Israel’s national theater company previously performed in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, pro-Israeli demonstrators also gathered outside the theater waving Israeli flags with signs that read: Culture unites, Boycotts divide. They also expressed their support for the Israeli actors.

Author of ‘The Invention of the Jewish People’ vents again: Haaretz

The concept of homeland is one of the most amazing and most ruinous of the modern era, says Prof. Shlomo Sand.
By Dalia Karpel     | May.24, 2012 | 12:34 PM |   9

Shlomo Sand. Photo by Yanai Yechiel

The concept of homeland is one of the most amazing and also, perhaps, one of the most ruinous of the modern era, says Prof. Shlomo Sand. In his new book, “When and How Was the Land of Israel Invented?” ‏(Kineret, Zmora-Bitan Dvir, Hebrew‏), Sand examines the attitude of the Zionist movement toward that territory since its inception. More particularly, he is out to discover how Zionism adopted the idea of the “historic right” to that land, and consolidated an ethos based on the memory of an ancient people whose ancestors were Hebrews who lived in the Kingdom of Judah in the First and Second Temple periods. According to Sand, the Land of Israel was not the historic homeland of the Jewish people.

“Zionism plundered the religious term ‘Land of Israel’ [Eretz Yisrael] and turned it into a geopolitical term,” he says. “The Land of Israel is not the homeland of the Jews. It becomes a homeland at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th − only upon the emergence of the Zionist movement.”

Sand’s previous book, “The Invention of the Jewish People” ‏(Verso, 2009; translated by Yael Lotan‏), stirred a furor. Sand rejected the existence of a Jewish people that was exiled two millennia ago and survived. The majority of the Jews of Eastern Europe, he maintained, are descendants of societies or of individuals who were converted to Judaism on European soil. This concept flagrantly contradicts Israel’s Declaration of Independence, according to which “Eretz-Israel ‏(the Land of Israel, Palestine‏) was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books” [source: Israeli Foreign Ministry]. Sand argues that for 2,000 years the Jews did not constitute a people and that only religion, belief and culture united them.

It was to be expected that “The Invention of the Jewish People” would not be greeted in Israel with great acclaim. However, its author admits that he did not imagine the book “would fall with the impact of a bomb.” The negative reactions have been diverse. Some rejected outright the principal conclusion and the historical facts on which it was based, while others dismissed the research and claimed there was nothing new in the book, that everything was known and accepted, at least by historians. ‏(For a slightly different reason he was also disappointed when the Arabic-language edition of the book was published in Ramallah: Sand was not invited to the book launch, though he was hosted at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem by the institution’s president, Prof. Sari Nusseibeh.‏)

That was about four years ago, but the hostility toward him seems to be intensifying. Recently, he says, he has been receiving more hate mail and getting obscene phone calls. Last week, he received an envelope in the mail that contained a white powder and a letter branding him an “anti-Semite” and a “Jew hater,” together with a promise that his days were numbered.

“The Invention of the Jewish People” was on Israel’s best-seller lists for 19 weeks and has been translated into 16 languages. Editions in Chinese, Korean, Indonesian and Croatian are in the works. In March 2009, he received the Aujourd’hui Award, presented by French journalists for a leading nonfiction political or historical work. Previous winners of the award include renowned scholars such as Raymond Aron and George Steiner.

Sand also racked up a lot of flying time en route to lecture on the book in France, Britain, Canada, the United States, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Germany, Slovenia, Morocco, Bulgaria, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Italy. His desk drawer and inbox contain hundreds of letters from around the world, from both Jews and adherents of other religions, taking issue with him.
Continue reading using the link below

Continue reading May 29, 2012

May 28, 2012

EDITOR: Habimah at the Globe

Despite the many distinguished theatre personalities writing to ask the Globe to withdraw Habimah from its programme of international productions of Shakespear’s plays, as well as many individuals and organisations who also requested this, the Globe theatre decided to totally ignore the pleas, and go ahead with this invitation. Habimah is Israel’s national theatre, and has been supported generously by state funding, and has performed in the Occupied Territories, hence supporting the ocupation regime.

In the event, many people have answered out call and came to partake in public action against the Globe and Habimah. Below you can see some of the video clips and images of this spirited public action against Israeli apartheid.

 Mike Cushman at the Globe

Debbie Fink sings in front of the Globe

Glyn Secker, captain of the famed boat Irene which broke the Gaza blockade, speaks to the crowd in front of the Globe.

Speaking to the crowd in front of the Globe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 21, 2012


boycott-israel-anim2

47 years to the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights!

1917 Days to the Israeli Blockade of Gaza:

End Israeli Apartheid Now!

Support Palestinian universities – it is what people under the Israeli jackboot ask you to do

Any army fighting against children, has already lost the war!

Israeli War Criminals and Pirates – to the International Criminal Court, NOW!

Make Zionism History!

Demand the destruction of Israeli WMDs NOW!

EDITOR: Haaretz website privatised…

Joining the Murdoch press in privatising their website, Haaretz made the full content available only to the rich who can pay the full cost of subscription, from this week. Regrettably, I shall be unable and unwilling to pay that cost, and hence will be unable to bring readers the full range of Haaretz articles, as this website did in the past. This is a sad moment, in which right wing sentiments and interests have taken over what was a liberal newspaper.

3½ YEARS TO THE MURDEROUS INVASION OF GAZA!

WE SHALL NOT FORGET!

 

Nakba Day, by Carlos Latuff


May 20, 2012

 

EDITOR: Jerusalem Day is Occupation Day!

Jerusalem Day is a constant reminder to all concerned about Israel’s unwillingness to come to a just and lasting peace in Palestine. Every year more of Jerusalem is confiscated, and every year more and more Palestinians loose their homes, land and civic rights. To pretend that this is some day of celebrating Jerusalem is facile – it is a day of celebrating apartheid, separation, occupation and oppression. It will always be a day of attrition and hatred, to be exploited by the Israeli fascists.

Palestinian attacks IDF soldier during Jerusalem Day event in West Bank: Haaretz

Incident comes amid increased tensions in the capital over observance of Jerusalem Day; Israel Police stops right-wing MKs from leading prayers on Temple Mount.
May.20, 2012

Right-wing activists walking to the Temple Mount, May 20, 2012. Photo by Michal Fattal

A Palestinian man attempted to stab an IDF soldier securing a Jerusalem Day event near the Gush Etzion junction in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

Preliminary reports indicated that the soldier, who was protecting a cycling trip organized to mark Jerusalem Day, was unharmed and that the assailant was seriously wounded in the struggle to subdue him.

The incident took place as large police and military police forces were deployed across the capital in preparation for possible confrontations between East Jerusalem residents and right-wing marchers marking Jerusalem Day.

Earlier Sunday, as part of Jerusalem Day events, National Union MKs Uri Ariel and Michael Ben-Ari arrived at the Temple Mount accompanied by a group of about 20 right-wing activists to conduct a tour of the site.

Originally, Ariel and Ben-Ari were supposed to be joined by fellow National Union MK Aryeh Eldad, along with Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) and Otniel Schneller (Kadima), who all cancelled at the last moment.

During the tour, four or five of the activists, including Ben-Ari himself, kneeled to pray on the Temple Mount, with a nearby police force preventing them from doing so.

However, as a result of the questioning of two the group’s participants following the act, the tour’s leader, Yehuda Eztion, a one-time member of the Gush Emunim Underground, sat on the ground and refused to move on.

He was then forcibly removed by police and arrested, with MK Ben-Ari confronting police officers to try and prevent the arrest.

A Jerusalem you don’t know about: Haaretz

It’s a good thing there’s Jerusalem Day, so we’ll remember there’s another Jerusalem next door. Shalom and salaam to you, Jerusalem.
By Mohammed Aweida
I want to tell you about my Jerusalem, a Jerusalem you don’t know about. You’re unfamiliar with East Jerusalem, with its many villages, because you’ve never visited. You even changed the names of those villages. Silwan, the village where I was born and where I still live, became the village of Shiloah. A-Tur became the Mount of Olives. Jabal Mukkaber became Armon Hanatziv.

It pains me to have to describe to you a place you’ve often been only 100 meters from. And even if you’ve been there, you may not have believed it was Jerusalem. My Jerusalem is villages in ruins, with ugly construction, without infrastructure and without security. In my Jerusalem there aren’t enough schools, there’s no childhood and no adulthood (or matriculation ). It makes no difference which village you’ve entered, the picture is identical everywhere in the city where no Jews live.

Community centers? There they don’t know what that means. Bomb shelters? There’s a shelter in Abu Tor, but they turned it into a girls’ school because they have nowhere to study. Infrastructure? What a difference between us and the western part of the city. We pay the taxes of an Israeli city, but it feels like we’re living in a Palestinian refugee camp. “An integral part of Greater Jerusalem,” say populist politicians about East Jerusalem. It would be more accurate to say: “An integral part of Greater Jerusalem’s tax collection system.”

What characterizes my Jerusalem, what makes it so ugly, is illegal construction. Some will say this is due to disdain for the law or even hostility. But from experience I know we don’t receive even 1 percent of the construction permits they receive in the west of the city.

We once tried to be like you – Israelis, modern and law-abiding. Two villages, Isawiyah and A-Tur, got together and submitted a construction plan for young couples on a large plot of land between the two villages. But the municipality said the area was too beautiful for houses; it would be the site of a public park for united and beautiful Jerusalem. And where will the young couples live? Find another place, said the municipality. If you don’t find one, continue to build illegally and we’ll know how to deal with you.

That’s one example from two villages. There are more. In my activities in the movement Fighting for Peace, I meet many Israelis. Almost always, someone asks the naive question: “But why is there hatred between us?” or “Why do the Arabs always complain?” or “Why give you things if you’re never satisfied?” My answer is that if we didn’t see from afar how you live and how you’re building, maybe we wouldn’t be envious. But when no border separates us, only a highway, and when the differences are so blatant, no propaganda machine can erase them.

And now, as in each of the past 45 years, Jerusalem is filling up with flags and excitement. The right-wing parade, which is devoted entirely to incitement and provocation, enters the eastern part of the city. And I ask myself, how do the Israelis feel that Jerusalem is united? A place where I feel foreign and unwanted, a place that doesn’t look at all like somewhere I’d want to live – such a place can’t be called “mine.”

It’s a good thing there’s Jerusalem Day, so we’ll remember there’s another Jerusalem next door. Shalom and salaam to you, Jerusalem.

The writer is a resident of Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood.

Ian McEwan: misery of attack on Iran would be beyond belief: Guardian

Author says regime is ‘looking very wobbly,’ but that an attack would reunite the country behind its leaders
Lisa Allardice
Ian McEwan, the writer whose 2005 novel Saturday was widely interpreted as making the case for military intervention in Iraq, said on Sunday any attack on Iran with the aim of destroying its nuclear capability would end in disaster.

Ian McEwan in conversation with Ian Katz at the Guardian Open Weekend. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris

Speaking at the Guardian’s Open Weekend festival, McEwan said: “I belong to that very large cohort who think it would be absolutely disastrous to attack Iran … I think the mischief and misery and unintended consequences of an attack on Iran would be beyond belief.”

McEwan’s Saturday is set on 15 February 2003, the day of a huge anti-war demonstration in London. He said the debate over intervention in Iran mirrored the arguments over Iraq in 2003, but said that readers were wrong to attribute to him the pro-war views of Saturday’s neurosurgeon hero, Henry Perowne.

In fact, McEwan said, his views on Iraq were a combination of Perowne’s and those of his anti-war daughter, Daisy. Although he sympathised initially with arguments that Saddam Hussein had to be removed from power, he became “deeply convinced” that the Bush administration was not capable of running the country following a conflict.

As the invasion loomed, McEwan said he spent a “white night of complete sleeplessness” hatching a plan to personally persuade Tony Blair to move 10,000 British troops from Kuwait to Afghanistan. He planned to ask his publisher, Gail Rebuck, to set up a meeting with the prime minister through her husband, Blair’s pollster Phillip Gould, but thought better of it in the morning.

McEwan said the Iranian regime was now “looking very wobbly” with “real splits between Ahmadinejad and the supreme leader Khamenei” – but any attack on the country would “bind the country back together behind the theocracy”.

He also rejected Israeli claims that if military action were not taken against the Iranian nuclear programme within months, Tehran’s weapons capability would be secreted away underground in facilities where it could no longer be knocked out.

“I wish that Israel had never embarked on [its own nuclear weapons programme] because it was inevitable that one or other of the powers in the region would follow … [but] There is a massive feeling of resentment against the [Iranian] regime, within the population and it’s quite a sophisticated population, to drive them to the other side would be a disaster.

During the interview, with the Guardian’s deputy editor, Ian Katz, the novelist also said:

• The British education system is limiting children in forcing them to choose between humanities or scientific studies at an early age. He said the American GRE test for postgraduate entrants produced more rounded students.

• When he was introduced to Tony Blair at a Tate Modern function, “the prime minister got hold of my hand in that intense way politicians have, not letting it go, and said: ‘I’m a great admirer of your work. We have a couple of your pictures hanging in Downing Street.'” He included the anecdote in Saturday.

• His son had to study his novel Enduring Love for A-level. McEwan had given him “some key points” but he still got a low mark – “I think quite wrongly. His tutor thought the stalker carried the authorial moral centre. Whereas I thought he was a complete madman.”

McEwan also revealed that he wrote notes for his novels initially in longhand, in ringbound green notebooks, working on a table he built himself in the 90s. “Black ink always. Pressing medium hard,” he joked.

Austria minister: Lieberman’s presence in Israeli cabinet ‘unbearable’: Guardian

In an interview to Die Presse daily, Norbert Darabos says Israel directing attention at enemies such as Iran, Palestinians in order to avoid internal social issues.

Avigdor Lieberman and Uzi Landau, May 9, 2012. Photo by Michal Fattal

Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos has launched an unprecedented verbal assault against Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, saying in an interview due to be published on Sunday that his presence in Israel’s cabinet was “unbearable.”

In an interview to the Austrian daily Die Presse, Darabos severely criticized Israel’s policies, with a special emphasis on continued settlement activity and the nuclear standoff with Iran.

“Iran can’t build a bomb yet, and Israel’s threats are unnecessary,” he said, adding that he felt an attack on “Iran’s nuclear facilities would spark an uncontrollable fire in the region and will create solidarity and empathy for Iran in the Arab world and the world at large.”

The Austrian minister accused Israel of “pointing a finger at its foreign enemies like Iran and the Palestinians in order to avoid dealing with internal social issues,” adding that, “honestly, the fact that minister Lieberman is a member of the Israeli government is unbearable.”

“Israel was in a better place when there was a balance between the Labor party and conservative elements, but those times have passed as a result of a split in the left,” he added.

Earlier this month, Lieberman urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet to advance High Court-bypassing legislation to sanction illegal West Bank outposts such as the Ulpana Hill neighborhood of Beit El.

Lieberman made the comment a few days after the High Court of Justice gave the government 60 days to demolish houses in the neighborhood that were illegally built on private Palestinian land.

Lieberman said that Ulpana is “not an illegal outpost. The state made a mistake. [Ulpana residents] did not make a mistake, they were sent there. The state made a mistake and it should take responsibility. I see no other way than legislation that will solve the issue.”

EDITOR: Not enough criminals are black…

Well it seems that there are some differences between the migrants and Jewish Israelis: they are too black, they are too law-abiding, and they are not Jewish enough… Hitler would have loved this.

Israel PM: illegal African immigrants threaten identity of Jewish state: Guardian

Binyamin Netanyahu reignites row over fate of thousands of African migrants in Israel
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The crime rate among foreigners in Israel was 2.04% in 2010 compared with 4.99% among Israelis. Photograph: AP

The Israeli prime minister has stoked a volatile debate about refugees and migrant workers from Africa, warning that “illegal infiltrators flooding the country” were threatening the security and identity of the Jewish state.

“If we don’t stop their entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence as a Jewish and democratic state,” Binyamin Netanyahu said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting. “This phenomenon is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity.” Israel’s population is 7.8 million.

His comments follow media reports of rising crime, including two gang rapes, in southern Tel Aviv, where many African migrants are concentrated. However, Micky Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli police, said the overall crime rate in Israel had fallen. There had been one alleged rape of a teenage girl connected to the migrant community, for which three suspects were in custody, he added.

Yohanan Danino, the Israeli police chief, said migrants should be permitted to work to discourage petty crime. Nearly all are unable to work legally, and live in overcrowded and impoverished conditions. “The community needs to be supported in order to prevent economic and social problems,” said Rosenfeld.

But the interior minister, Eli Yishai, rejected such a move, saying: “Why should we provide them with jobs? I’m sick of the bleeding hearts, including politicians. Jobs would settle them here, they’ll make babies, and that offer will only result in hundreds of thousands more coming over here.”

Yishai repeated an earlier call for all migrants to be jailed pending deportation. “I want everyone to be able to walk the streets without fear or trepidation … The migrants are giving birth to hundreds of thousands, and the Zionist dream is dying,” he told Army Radio. Last week he said most migrants were involved in criminal activity.

According to police data quoted by the Hotline for Migrant Workers, the crime rate among foreigners in Israel was 2.04% in 2010, compared with 4.99% among Israelis.

More than 13,500 people entered Israel illegally in 2010, of whom almost two-thirds were Eritrean and one-third were Sudanese. Three were granted refugee status by Israel, rising to six last year. Human rights organisations say more than 50,000 asylum seekers and migrants have entered Israel illegally since 2005.

Most are smuggled across the Israel-Egypt border by Bedouin tribesmen. Israel is constructing a vast steel fence through 150 miles of the Sinai desert as a deterrent to people-trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and weapons. The barrier would be completed, bar one small section, by October, Netanyahu said.

Israel is also constructing the world’s largest detention centre for asylum seekers and illegal migrants, capable of holding 11,000 people. The £58m building, close to the border, will receive its first detainees by the end of the year.

Netanyahu said the state would embark on “the physical withdrawal” of migrants, despite fears among human rights organisations about the dangers they could face in their home countries. Yishai said: “I’m not responsible for what happens in Eritrea and Sudan, the UN is.”

As tensions rise in cities with relatively high African populations, the past month has seen a spate of attacks on buildings in south Tel Aviv that house asylum seekers and migrant workers. In one incident, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the courtyard of a kindergarten. NGOs working with migrants have also received abusive and threatening calls.

Amid the anti-immigration clamour, some Israelis have argued that, in the light of Jewish history, their state should be sympathetic and welcoming to those fleeing persecution.

Continue reading May 20, 2012

May 13, 2012

EDITOR: The more it changes, the more it stays the same…

The second year of summer protest in Israel, and the picture is just as confusing as before. If ‘social justice’ was not vague enough, then this shortcoming seems to have been resolved… now the ‘people wants all things’ and now… it seems that the May Day tradition of political rallies has been replaced by a new kind of public festival – the public airing of unformed, or malformed, personal misgivings about everything under the sun, but mainly, not about the issues which have shaped Israel and Palestine for almost a century. One could call this the ‘Eid of Denial’, I reckon. After all, denial is a national sport in Israel  – in a country in which the law forbids the indoigenous population to commemorate the Nakba, a Denial Holiday will come in handy.

No doubts, the fruits of this diffused, confused and colourful ‘protest’ will be like those of last summer – much a do about something, but without knowing about what, and with no political results whatsoever. In the meantime, Netanyahu is becoming stronger, and prepares his next war with Iran.

The new face of Israel’s social protest: Haaretz

If the slogan of the 2011 protest was ‘the people demand social justice,’ the slogan this year is ‘the people demand all kinds of things.’

A protester carrying a sign proclaiming the start of the "Hebrew Spring," during a rally in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night. Photo by Moti Milrod

Gideon Levy
Israelis protest in Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv, May 12, 2012. Photo by Moti Milrod
Social protest showed a new face last night: What began in the summer of 2011 as a small tent protest, aimed at bringing down housing prices, is in the summer of 2012 a strange and endless coalition of interests and agendas that have yet to find common ground. If the slogan of the 2011 protest was “the people demand social justice,” the slogan this year is “the people demand all kinds of things.”

Rabin Squarelooked more like Woodstock, without the drugs, than the Bastille, on Saturday night. The music was loud and contemporary, no more Eyal Golan or Shlomo Artzi, and the average age has gone down. The language is completely different and the burning anger that was so missing last summer, was, unfortunately, absent last night as well.

The founding fathers and mothers were walking around in the square, among them Daphni Leef and Regev Kuntas, but they were like strangers, interviewed on TV in an appearance that seemed more nostalgic than political. The protest, generation 2, has not produced new leaders like Leef. The organizers took care to put unknown faces on the dais, who read from prepared texts passing the microphone on as if this were a Shavuot play at a kibbutz.

“Ask yourselves why you know more about the Iranian nuclear reactor than the Jesse Cohen neighborhood in Holon,” one said, referring to a poor neighborhood. “Why is there such a broad government with such narrow interests?” another asked.

The texts were interrupted repeatedly by the call, for those present to put down political protest signs. “This is a demonstration of being together. This is not a political demonstration.” Not political? If that’s the case, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can continue to rest through another summer of settlements, bombings and social injustice.

Since last summer the government coalition has broadened and public support of it has not decreased at all, according to the polls. Perhaps that is last summer’s failure. Since then, taking to the street in protest has become almost a matter of course. That may be a good sign. But it is doubtful that a coalition consisting of the Social Guard; the Social Darma movement; the First Cooperative for Social Change; New Peace – Come Learn and Create; and the Suckers Encampment; My People – the Future of Israel; the Venus Project; a group organizing fun days for Palestinian children; and a group supporting the legalization of cannabis, are more threatening to the government and the existing order than the cries of the homeless that echoed last summer.

The good news is that (very ) young people took over the square, the bad news is that they were much too diffused. Someone counted no less than 30 groups, and not one major group was there. TV monitors showed live broadcasts of protests elsewhere in the world, in Madrid, Barcelona and London, May having been declared the month of international protest and “we are not alone.”

But the globalization of the protest is unlikely to help the residents of the Jesse Cohen neighborhood in Holon. They were (once again ) missing from last night’s rally, although it had begun with the march of the few from south Tel Aviv, it was (once again ) a rally of young, secular, Ashkenazi Tel Avivians from Facebook. It’s good to see them disconnect from their computers, going out into the streets, worrying not only about themselves, and at least imagining that they are protesting.

About an hour before the protest started, a big circle of dancers covered the square to “hold hands” against the sunset. Two women invited me for a hug; two others for two minutes of silence together. Only a man collecting tin cans asked a traffic policewoman, “what’s the protest about,” and she did not know the answer.

Yes, the police were there last night, as at every Israeli protest, far too many. But last night at least they were not violent, for a change. The emcee spoke of the “amazing voice” in the square as if we were in an ashram in Pune or an evangelical church in the southern United States.

Of all people, it was the promising leader of this summer’s protest, the veteran and devoted social activist Shaul Mofaz, who was absent. Only one or two MKs dared appear, with hatred for politics and political parties having grown with the expansion of the coalition. “All the parties have failed,” one speaker said. And that is not necessarily a good sign.

EDITOR: Fascist environmentalism

In normal countries, the principles of environmentalism are usually held and supported by progressive parties of and on the left. In Israel, this position is held by Gilad Erdan; read below to learn of the fascist and racist positioning argued under the cover of ‘environmental issues’.

Hunger strikers expose an inhuman system: Observer Editorial

Israel cannot claim the moral high ground while it is holding Palestinians without charge
The disclosure that six of almost 1,600 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike to protest against the Israeli policy of “administrative detention” are close to death has profound implications for Israel and for the stalled Middle East peace process. The rule of law and fair and proper judicial processes, where those accused of a crime may be charged and are guaranteed an opportunity to speak in their own defence in open court, is a key human right that a properly functioning democracy should guarantee even in a troubled period of peacetime.

Internment for prolonged periods without charge on the suspicion of secretive and unaccountable intelligence agencies, whose claims cannot be adequately tested – in Guantánamo Bay, the UK or in Israel – must always be opposed. And in Israel, in particular, administrative detention, first introduced by the UK during the British Mandate, has long been a stain on Israel’s democracy, a process by which that detention can be renewed every six months without formal charges in a system administered by the military including, on the West Bank, relatively junior officers.

Last December, it was estimated that more than 300 prisoners were held in this way.

The office of UN high commissioner for human rights, Navanethem Pillay, is clear on the legality of administrative detention: it “should only be used in exceptional cases and only for imperative reasons of security”.

Yet far from being exceptional, it is commonplace. Indeed, according to the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, over the past year the number of administrative detentions has almost doubled despite the period of relative peace in Israel.

The claim by the Red Cross that the six hunger strikers who have been refusing nourishment the longest are now in danger of dying comes as the secretary-general of the UN, Ban ki-Moon, last week raised the stakes by calling for those being held to be tried or released.

There is an evident risk of violence for both Israelis and Palestinians should any of the hunger strikers die (as officials on both sides have warned). But the success or failure of this protest has further far-reaching implications. The deaths of Bobby Sands and fellow IRA and INLA hunger strikers in 1981 become a focus for both IRA political and paramilitary activity, Sands’s funeral alone attracting tens of thousands of mourners.

And for Israel, the new Palestinian tactic should serve as a warning. At a time when more and more observers are increasingly convinced that the two-state solution is failing, the nonviolence of this hunger strike is already deeply suggestive of what a Palestinian civil rights movement might look like – should Palestinians abandon the demand for their own self-determination and, instead, insist on full equality within a binational state.

While Israel, confronted by the spectre of violence, has found it easy to put forward the argument of necessity, the grim spectacle of uncharged prisoners dying in its jails deprived of the most basic rights will be difficult to justify.

The UN secretary-general is right. Israel must either put on trial or release those that it holds within this inhuman system. In doing so it will help to affirm that it is a free and open society.

Environment Minister: Israel should cut power supply to Gaza in case of shortage: Haaretz

Environmental Protection Ministry study shows 4.5% of Israeli electricity exported to Gaza; Minister Erdan says ‘our poor come first.’
By Ophir Bar-Zohar

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan Photo by Daniel Bar-On

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan on Sunday sought support from other government ministers to add a stipulation to any policy decision regarding the expected electricity shortages this summer.

Erdan said that he wishes to add a clause to the agreement stipulating that if any electricity service needs to be temporarily stopped, such temporary outages should be implemented in Hamas-controlled Gaza, before affecting the power supply to residents of Israel.

Erdan made it clear that the stipulation is not meant to be a sanction against Gaza, nor its residents, but simply a logical step toward the philosophy of putting “the poor of your own city first.”

Erdan said that it is not reasonable to reduce the power supply to residents of Israel in the event of a shortage, while continuing to supply power to Gaza, from which Israel disengaged roughly seven years ago, and is no longer responsible for what goes on within its borders.

Erdan noted in his letter to government ministers that experts in the field predict that a power shortage this summer is unavoidable, and a schedule of regulated, intentional power outages will need to be implemented.

Erdan pointed out that according to a study conducted by the Environmental Protection Ministry, Israel exports roughly 4.5% of electricity it generates to the Palestinian Authority. Thus Erdan suggests that if even after all countermeasures are in place, periodic stoppages of electricity need to be implemented, such outages should be felt in Gaza before in Israel.

“As the Environmental Protection Ministry is warning against a possible ‘electricity drought,’ steps are being made to counter it, including possible stops of service – there is no question, rather a clear decision in that case – Gaza first,” said Erdan.

Egyptian presidential candidates in first television debate: Guardian

Egypt's presidential candidates Amr Moussa (right) and Abdel Moneim Abu Futuh during the televised presidential debate in Cairo. Photograph: Ahmed Hayman/EPA Millions of Egyptians tuned into the first ever presidential debate in the country's history on Thursday night between frontrunners Amr Moussa and Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh.
Egypt's presidential candidates Amr Moussa (right) and Abdel Moneim Abu Futuh during the televised presidential debate in Cairo. Photograph: Ahmed Hayman/EPA

Millions of Egyptians tune into two private satellite channels to watch Amr Moussa and Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh debate
Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 May 2012

With former president Hosni Mubarak languishing in hospital as he awaits sentencing next month, Egyptians watched two private satellite channels to witness an event held within its borders for the first time: a bona fide presidential debate.

There are 13 candidates in the campaign, which begins on 23 May, but the two who showed up for the TV bout were the established frontrunners in the polls, former foreign minister Moussa and former Muslim Brotherhood member Abul-Futoh.

Taking away the leftist revolutionary candidates, Moussa and Abul-Futoh exemplified perfectly the fault-lines of the upcoming election. Moussa was affiliated to the previous regime while Abul-Futoh was a prominent supporter of the revolution. Also, Moussa is a secular liberal while Abul-Futoh is a moderate Islamist.

Each candidate set out to accentuate his credentials to the detriment of the other. Abul-Futoh alluded to Moussa’s ties to the Mubarak regime many times, while Moussa reciprocated by attacking Abul-Futoh’s affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Candidates were asked a broad selection of questions over the four and half hours of the debate, ranging from the relationship with the ruling military junta, minority rights and the implementation of Sharia law.

Moussa brought up Sharia law many times in order to attack Abul-Futoh, which led the latter to admit he did intend to implement the rulings of Sharia law, though he argued it would not contravene civil liberties nor the rights of non-Muslims.

“There is no duality between religion and citizenship, the state or the constitution. The nature of Islam is that it looks for the interest of people. When we look for their interests, this is congruous with Sharia law,” Abul-Futoh said.

For his part ,Moussa distanced himself from Mubarak and his regime, stating, “When the regime fell, it fell with its men and I wasn’t one of them. I left 10 years ago and when it fell I wasn’t part of it.”

The candidates were also asked about the ruling military junta and the litany of abuses conducted by them, including the infamous virginity tests against female protesters. They both responded by saying that if it did happen, a full investigation must take place and those responsible held accountable.

The candidates were also asked about Israel, the US and Iran. Ever the diplomat, Moussa said relations with Israel must be reconfigured until a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital was created.

Abul-Futoh was more scathing, labelling Israel a threat to Egypt with its 200 nuclear warheads and continued broaching of Egyptian sovereignty on its borders. Both were rather more blasé about the US. Regarding Iran, Moussa urged that there should be no attack, while Abul-Futoh said Iran was welcome to have relations with Egypt as long as it did not attempt to spread Shia beliefs.

The London riots also made its way into the debate, when Abul-Futoh pointed out that police protected looters even as they rioted, in way of explanation that it was the job of police to avoid deaths even if protests turn violent.

The debate was aired concurrently on two satellite channels belonging to prominent Egyptian businessmen Naguib Sawiris and Ahmed Bahgat. It was not aired on national television and was full of ad breaks, giving it a Superbowl-type atmosphere and leading to criticism that it was a money-making endeavour as much as it was a historic occasion.

It was also not without its surreal moments. Beforehand, the presenters discussed debates in the US and Europe, and while talking about the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin of 2008, footage was aired of Tina Fey impersonating Palin on the satirical television show Saturday Night Live.

May 8, 2012

EDITOR: The rule of law in Israel has never been weaker than now

With Israeli government refusing to follow its own Supreme Court rulings on the Migron and Ulpana Hill settlements, a new low has been reached in Israel. A year after the famous vacuous Tent Protest has exploded all over Israel, promising ‘a new democracy’ and more equal society, and avoiding totally any mention of the occupation, this new trough of Israeli political life is something to behold. Within a year, Netanyahu is the most popular politician in Israel, starting a new coalition government with Shaul Mofaz, who only two weeks ago, as he was making promises before being elected the Kadima party leader, has undertaken to continue as Opposition leader, and not to enter a coalition with Netanyahu. This victory of the lie and the criminal deed over law and democracy is emblematic, a sign of the deep and doomed state of the Israeli polis. It befits Netanyahu to preside over this final collapse of law, order and propriety. It is exactly where success for Netanyahu marks the total failure of Israeli political life, ina government which acts illegally, even in the face of its own legal system, not just the international law.

In surprise move, Netanyahu, Mofaz agree to form unity government, cancel early elections: Haaretz

PM, opposition leader reach dramatic late-night agreement to form national unity government, in which Kadima head Mofaz expected to be appointed deputy prime minister.
By Jonathan Lis     and Ophir Bar-Zohar
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition chairman MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) reached a surprise agreement early Tuesday morning to form a national unity government.

Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shaul Mofaz. Photo by: Tomer Appelbaum

The move came as the Knesset was preparing to disperse for early elections, which were expected to be scheduled for September 4.

Under the agreement, Kadima will join Netanyahu’s government and commit to supporting its policies through the end of its term in late 2013. Mofaz is expected to be appointed deputy prime minister, as well as minister without portfolio.

Mofaz will also serve as a member of the security cabinet, and Kadima members will serve as chairmen of the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committees, the economics committee, and any others that are agreed upon by both sides.

Chairwoman of the Israel Labor Party, Shelly Yacimovich, will become opposition leader instead of Mofaz. The process is also likely to affect Yair Lapid’s new party, Yesh Atid – it will have to wait another year and a half for elections to the 19th Knesset.

In exchange, Netanyahu’s government will support Kadima’s proposal to replace the Tal Law, which enables ultra-Orthodox youth to defer national service.

The sides also agreed on instituting changes to Israel’s electoral system.

PM Netanyahu arriving at a Likud faction meeting on Monday night. Photo by: Olivier Fitoussi

Yair Lapid responded to the move on Tuesday morning on his Facebook page. He described the formation of the unity government as “the old kind of politics” and “corrupt and ugly.”

“It is time to remove it from our lives,” he wrote, adding, “This is politics of chairs instead of principles… of the interests of the group instead of the whole nation. They think that now they will continue for some time, and that we will forget, but they are mistaken. This disgusting political alliance will bury all those involved.”

Shelly Yacimovich criticized the move, and calling it an alliance of cowards, and the most ridiculous zig-zag in Israel’s political history. She also said that the move represented an opportunity for the Israel Labor Party to lead the opposition.

Meretz head Zahava Gal-On expressed outrage over the surprise move, calling it a “mega-stinking maneuver by a prime minister who wants to avoid elections and a desperate opposition chairman facing a crash.”

“This is a disgrace to the Israeli parliament and a terrible message to the public, which is losing faith in the leadership of the state,” she added.

Shaul Mofaz was elected head of Kadima less than two weeks ago, when he defeated former party head Tzipi Livni in the party’s leadership primary.

In an interview with Haaretz ahead of the primary, Mofaz insisted that, if elected, he would not join a government led by Netanyahu.

“Kadima under my leadership will remain in the opposition. The current government represents all that is wrong with Israel, I believe. Why should we join it?” he said at the time.

Ulpana illegal outpost must be gone by July, Israeli government is warned: Guardian

Judges reject coalition’s plea for delay and set new deadline for demolition of unauthorised buildings on Palestinian land
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem

Israeli flags fly over Ulpana. Photograph: Sebastian Scheiner/AP

The Israeli government has been given a fresh deadline for the controversial demolition of a Jewish outpost built on private Palestinian land after the supreme court rejected its request to renege on an earlier commitment.

In a ruling that will be vehemently opposed by pro-settler parties and factions, the court said five apartment buildings in Ulpana, on the edge of the Beit El settlement in the West Bank, must be evacuated and demolished by 1 July.

The government had agreed to a 1 May deadline, a year after the court declared the buildings to be illegal under Israeli law. Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal.

But faced with stiff resistance from within the coalition, the government requested a delay to allow it to reconsider its policy on how to deal with illegal outposts in the West Bank. The issue had significant consequences involving “diplomatic, public and operational considerations,” the government petition said.

The court rejected the argument, saying it was important for the state to honour its commitments, and that revisiting the issue “may lead to difficult consequences”.

On Sunday, when hearing the petition, the judges were highly critical of the government’s stance. “When the state says it will do something, it never enters our heads that the thing won’t get done,” said one. Another said: “Exceptional requests are becoming the norm. That isn’t healthy, from either a legal or public standpoint.”

Michael Sfard, the lawyer representing the Palestinian landowners, said in response to the ruling: “The moment the state submitted its unprecedented request, this case became a broader struggle than that of the [Palestinian] petitioners alone, and became a struggle to preserve the basic norms of a regime based on the rule of law.”

But an Ulpana resident, Harel Cohen, said he was confident the buildings would not be razed. “This crazy plan to uproot a very nice neighbourhood is not reasonable and cannot be done,” he said. “We are speaking to the prime minister and the government, and we know they will find a way out.”

The scheduled demolitions of Ulpana and Migron – another outpost built on private land, which is due to be demolished by 1 August after a series of delays – are seen as a test of the government’s readiness to comply with Israeli law in the face of pressure from pro-settler groups, whose influence on government policy is growing.

Critics say they are also an indication of the likely scale of resistance to an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on borders that would require the removal of tens of thousands of settlers from the land of a future Palestinian state.

The government recently retrospectively authorised three other illegal outposts in a move that was sharply criticised by the US, UK, French, German, Danish and Jordanian governments, the European Union, the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority. There are about 100 unauthorised developments in the West Bank.

About 350,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem. The issue of settlements is seen by the Palestinians and the international community as the main impediment to a peace agreement.

Rejecting state request, High Court orders demolition of West Bank outpost to go forward: Haaretz

Justices criticize government for wishing to reopen closed cases over changed policy, adding that the state had not provided the kind of extraordinary circumstances that would force revisiting a court verdict.
By Tomer Zarchin
Rejecting a state appeal, the High Court of Justice ordered on Monday the demolition of illegally-built structures in the Ulpana neighborhood.

The Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El. Photo by: Emil Salman

The ruling came after state appealed to the High Court on Friday, requesting it reconsider its ruling to evacuate the Ulpana neighborhood, part of the West Bank settlement of Beit El, and tear down the structures there, which were built on private Palestinian land.

That day, the state cited the difficult ramifications an evacuation is likely to have for Beit El residents.

On Sunday, during a hearing regarding the state’s request, the court criticized Israel for not fulfilling its legal commitment to demolish the outpost. Justice Uzi Fogelman said that “when the state claims it will do something, we do not imagine that it will not be done. There is respect between the branches.”

In the ruling issued Monday, Supreme Court President Ahser Grunis along with Fogelman and Justice Salim Joubran rejected the state’s request, saying the illegal Ulpana structures would have to be evacuated by July 1.

The justices wrote that it was especially important for the state to honor its obligations to the High Court, adding that, by “accepting the state’s position, according to which the need to revisit policy is a reason to reopen a finalized process, my lead to difficult consequences.”

“Policy, in its very nature, isn’t a static thing. Will the state request to review processes that ended in a verdict every time a policy is reconsidered!?” the court asked, adding that a change in policy was not a reason to divert from the finality of a verdict,” the justices added.

The justices went on to say that the “authority to reopen a finalized legal procedure, assuming that it exists, is reserved for unusual situations and extraordinary circumstances.”

“Those circumstances have not been presented in this case, even if it does raise difficult question of public and social policy,” they added.

The state had previously pledged in court to implement the demolition orders for the neighborhood buildings, but last month it asked for 90 days to reevaluate its policy on enforcing demolition orders for illegal buildings in the West Bank, as it takes into account strategic, public and operative considerations together.

According to legal experts, the government’s request represents a problematic move – breaking the accepted rules for the relationship between the executive and judicial branches – that would put the country in a difficult position.

High Court may have ruled against West Bank outpost, but the story isn’t over: Haaretz

While it looks like the High Court was defending the rule of law, woe unto a generation that needs the High Court to tell the government that it’s meant to obey its rulings.
By Aeyal Gross
In the printed version of Monday’s High Court of Justice decision reiterating the order to vacate Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood, there’s something interesting about the punctuation: Two sentences end with both a question mark and an exclamation point, something rare, if not unprecedented, in a court document.

“Does the state, every time a new policy is considered, plan to ask the court to reopen proceedings that have ended in a ruling?!” wrote court President Justice Asher Dan Grunis, who also wondered, “What … would be the reason for providing the exceptional remedy of reopening a legal proceeding .. in which the state has committed to act in a certain fashion?!”

On the one hand, one must welcome the court’s decision to reject the request to reopen the hearing on Ulpana Hill, which reinforces not only the finality of court decisions but reinforces the basic principle of carrying them out.

On the other hand, if in the case of Migron, the fact that there had to be a petition to the High Court to enforce a previous court ruling demonstrated the degree to which the occupation tramples on equal rights and the rule of law, in the Ulpana case there’s been an even further slide down the slippery slope.

Here the High Court had to deal with a specific request from the state not to obey a ruling it received.

So while it looks like the High Court was defending the rule of law, woe unto a generation that needs the High Court to tell the government that it’s meant to obey its rulings. No wonder the High Court had to append exclamation points to its question marks.

But the biggest question mark of all still remains: Will the structures built on private Palestinian land near Beit El be demolished by July 1, the date the court set? Migron, don’t forget, is meant to be dismantled by August 1.

This means that on the eve of general elections, the government is going to have to twice demolish buildings and evacuate settlers from private Palestinian land. If the government would prefer not to obey these rulings for political reasons, there are three possible scenarios.

The first could be a horrific one, in which despite the High Court’s unequivocal rulings the government simply doesn’t implement them, in what would be a total trampling of the rule of law. A second possibility is that the government would seek more extensions from the High Court, though based on its recent rulings it isn’t likely the court will agree.

The third scenario is that in an effort to codify the theft, various elements will try to pass “High Court bypass” laws that would retroactively legalize those outposts built on private Palestinian land. In such an instance, the High Court would once again be called upon to decide if such laws are constitutional, or if they contravene the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom.

At issue is not just the rule of law in its formal sense, which was at least defended this time, but also the substance of the rule of law, which continues to be crushed.

It’s clear that the violations of law in these cases and the efforts to avoid carrying out the court rulings stems from the fact that these lands belong to Palestinians, and in this context, as in many others, the government relates to Palestinian rights as negatable.

One must recall that the rulings on Migron and Ulpana Hill represent the tip of the iceberg of government land grabs in the territories. The Spiegel Report, which was prepared based on Civil Administration data and revealed by Haaretz three years ago, found that in more than 30 settlements there had been extensive construction of buildings and infrastructure on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Let’s not delude ourselves that the cases that have reached the High Court of Justice will solve the deeper, much more serious problem.

Continue reading May 8, 2012

May 7, 2012

EDITOR: The old methods are the best…

Israel is proudly using the old methods of the czarist secret police, the Cheka. In order to make sure that violence erupts when they need it, they plant undercover agent provocateurs in the Palestinian villages, who proceed to ‘attack’ the IOF forces, hence supplying the necessary spark and excuse for brutal and illegal behaviour. It is good to hear it from the horse’s mouth, of course. If this is what they admit to, just imagine what they are not telling us… Please note that the photo is described as : ‘MK Mohammed Barakeh confronting IDF soldiers in Bil’in in 2005’… look at it and make up your own mind.

‘Undercover Israeli combatants threw stones at IDF soldiers in West Bank’: Haaretz

Testimony by commander of the Israeli Prison Service’s elite ‘Masada’ unit sheds light on IDF methods in countering demonstrations against barrier.

Undercover soldiers hurled stones in the “general direction” of IDF soldiers as part of their activity to counter weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian village of Bil’in, the commander of the Israeli Prison Service’s elite “Masada” unit revealed during his recent testimony in the trial of MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash).

MK Mohammed Barakeh confronting IDF soldiers in Bil’in in 2005. Photo by: Reuters

Barakeh has been charged with assaulting a border guard in Bil’in who was attempting to arrest a demonstrator.

Since 2005, the weekly protests against the separation barrier in Bil’in, which cuts the village off from much of its residents’ land, have attracted international attention as well as the participation of Israeli and international activists.

Several “Masada” fighters testified two weeks ago in Barakeh’s trial in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s court. The fighters testified from behind a curtain and their identity is to remain secret. The central witness was “Fighter 102,” an officer in “Masada,” who told the court that “we were sent to counter the disruptions at the separation barrier in Bil’in. It was the first time I was undercover. Two men were arrested, they were Palestinians.”

When quizzed by defense attorney Orna Kohn if the undercover soldiers hurled stones, “102” answered that they did. When asked if he hurled stones toward IDF soldiers, he answered “in the general direction.”

The unit’s commander, “fighter 101,” who commanded the operation that day, shed light on the unit’s operational methods. “I was commander of the force, directed by the IDF, following intelligence about a huge demonstration due to take place in the Bil’in area. We had several forces in the field – one of them was an undercover force whose mission was to provide intelligence and carry out ‘quality’ arrests, if needed, and a rescue force which was wearing regular uniforms,” he revealed.

“An enormous demonstration began, coming down from the village. It seemed that the army was losing control. Some 500 demonstrators came down and ignored the orders of the deputy battalion commander, who was in charge of the operation, and simply passed by him without blinking. The army forces swiftly lost their ability to effectively control the situation,” the officer continued.

“At a certain stage the deputy battalion commander told me he had lost control and requested that we act to stop the demonstrators. We used equipment for dispersing demonstrations and managed to stop them. When the undercover unit reported, it identified ‘quality’ targets – that is substantial activists who led the demonstration, hurled stones and constituted a danger to the forces. I ordered the undercover forces to carry out arrests. I caught the back of a man who attacked one of my soldiers, and identified him as MK Barakeh. As far as I’m concerned if an undercover soldier arrested someone, he must be a quality target,” the commander told the court.

MK Barakeh originally faced four charges, but two were dropped in the preliminary proceedings. The second of the two remaining charges dates back to July 2006, when the prosecution alleges he assaulted a right-wing activist who attempted to attack peace activist Uri Avnery.

EDITOR: Supreme Court may go to hell, for all Netanyahu cares…

So, as the Supreme Court has not yet annulled its own ruling, that the buildings in Ulpana were erected illegally, and should be vacated, The IOF has found away of extending the building further, while making fun of Israel’s legal system. It is not clear who is left laughing after this, but the extreme right, Netanyahu’s power-base and reserve army of political violence. For the good souls in the west, still speaking of the Israeli legal system as some beacon in the darkness, this should come and welcome relief – every illegal crime has been legally carried out, like in some other regimes in the past. There is nothing like the law to make a crime kosher.

Military order allowed construction: Haaretz

The municipal boundaries of Beit El were effectively expanded without any public announcements that might have generated domestic or international protest.
By Akiva Eldar
The state’s request to delay the evacuation of the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El reveals that a military order, giving the settlement jurisdiction over lands outside its borders, was part of the process leading to the construction of those homes.

Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood. Photo by: Olivier Fitoussi

Section 2A (a ) of the military order relating to local authorities states that “The Israel Defense Forces commander in an area is allowed to announce that the regulations [meaning regulations governing the management of local authorities], in whole or in part, will also be applied in the event that a local authority decides to impose its authority under the regulations to people who are found ‘adjacent to its defining borders.’ This [IDF] order will determine to which kind of people or over which land the regulations will be applied.”

In accordance with the section of the military order, on July 1, 1997 the local military commander signed an “announcement relating to imposing authority in certain places, such as Beit El.”

According to the announcement, “The regulations … will apply to the area adjacent to and contiguous with the defining borders of the Beit El local authority as was valid on the date this announcement was signed … The Beit El local authority will impose its authority, under the regulations, on people in the adjacent area as well.

“This announcement applies to residents of Israel, whomever lives in the area and is an Israeli citizen or is eligible to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return … who lives in the adjacent area.”

In this way, the municipal boundaries of Beit El were effectively expanded without any public announcements that might have generated domestic or international protest.

In 2009, the Supreme Planning Council, the top planning body in Judea and Samaria, in a procedural announcement, further stated that the chairman of the Supreme Planning Council is allowed to determine “that any area will be seen as part of the local authority if he sees it having a close link to the local authority’s jurisdiction.”

The spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories refused to say which local authorities in the West Bank other than Beit El had been granted authority outside their jurisdictions under these regulations.